Charlotte makes 2nd national list of best new restaurants

One of the most popular dishes at Hello, Sailor, in Cornelius is the restaurant’s updated twist on Crab Louis, topped with brown-butter saltine crumbs. Observer files

One of the most popular dishes at Hello, Sailor, in Cornelius is the restaurant’s updated twist on Crab Louis, topped with brown-butter saltine crumbs. Observer files

A week after the influential website Eater.com released its annual list of the best new restaurants in the country, a second list, from the magazine Bon Appetit, gives more attention to Cornelius restaurant Hello, Sailor.

Bon Appetit editor Andrew Knowlton includes the restaurant, the second from Joe and Katy Kindred of Kindred Restaurant in Davidson, on his list of the 50 best new restaurants in the country. This list is sort of the finalists — Knowlton will release his final list, of the 10 best new restaurants, on Aug. 14.

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At least one restaurant on the list will change by then: The only other North Carolina restaurant on the list, The Lakewood in Durham, closed on Sunday. The Lakewood was a spinoff for baker Phoebe Lawless, a James Beard award nominee known for Scratch Baking. All three of her restaurants, including Scratch, have now closed, news that apparently didn’t reach Knowlton in time to adjust his list.

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Last year, one N.C. restaurant made Bon Appetit’s final list of 10, Brewery Bhavana in Raleigh. No Charlotte-area restaurants made last year’s lists.

The Bon Appetit list is just the latest recognition for Hello, Sailor. Last week, Eater.com’s national dining critic, Bill Addison, included Hello, Sailor on his list of the 18 best new restaurants in the country. The restaurant also has gotten high marks from GQ (writer Brett Martin also added it to his list of the best new restaurants, released earlier this year) and Garden & Gun magazines. In the June/July issue of Charleston-based Garden & Gun, writer John T. Edge recently reviewed Hello, Sailor, calling the hush puppies with yuzu-honey butter the best he’s ever eaten.